Senior Director, Maternal & Child Health Initiatives

The District of Columbia Hospital Association has, for more than 45 years, worked to advance the missions of the hospitals and health systems of the District of Columbia by promoting policies and initiatives that strengthen the system of care, preserve access and promote better health outcomes for the patients and communities they serve. The role of the Senior Director, Maternal and Child Initiatives is to lead the maternal and child initiatives, such as the DC Perinatal Quality Collaborative, in conjunction with members, associate members and appropriate health care leaders in order to improve quality of and access to care. The individual in this role has supervisory responsibility for managers, coordinators, and other staff assigned to facilitate the work of the collaboratives. The Senior Director, Maternal and Child Initiatives will also work closely with colleagues including those in analytics, communications, community, and policy/advocacy roles to support priorities for improvement and strategic goals.

The Senior Director will achieve success by:

• Garnering the respect of the Association’s leaders, the hospital’s quality and clinical leaders, and representatives for maternal and child health interests across the District through leadership, skill, organization, proactivity and strategic thinking.
• Developing proactive processes for monitoring issues important to the members and collaborating with the clinical and non-clinical teams at the hospitals to address them.
• Being a collaborative partner with Association colleagues and invested stakeholders to develop proactive strategies and responses to facilitate their related goals and objectives.
• Demonstrating a “can-do” approach and sense of ownership on Association-wide projects as a member of a small team where “it’s not my job” is not an option.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Performance Improvement

• Identify and guide use of evidence-based performance improvement techniques to facilitate collaborative improvement and evaluate success.
• Lead collaborative teams in design of sustainable actions that close the gaps in organizational vulnerabilities incorporating metrics to monitor processes and outcomes of collaborative efforts.
• Assess the status of adoption of changes and barriers to adoption in order to develop strategies to support continuous improvement and overcome barriers.
• Facilitate training needs and provide education to support members’ patient safety and quality programs and knowledge of industry innovations and evidence-based practices.
• Develop mechanisms to support adoption of patient safety and quality initiatives leveraging evidence-based methods that support safety culture and high-reliability organizational concepts and practices for members.
• Oversee the application of appropriate tools and techniques to identify causal factors, interpret findings, and communicate potential solutions with assigned collaborative groups.
• Use data to identify opportunities for improvement based on key trends and monitor progress toward collaborative goals.

Liaison

• Network, operate and navigate in the political landscape in support of changes needed to facilitate delivery of equitable, quality care by member organizations engaged in improvement and grant related activities. This includes members as well as governmental agencies, professional medical and nursing advocates, providers, associations and others invested stakeholders, as appropriate.
• Facilitate between member hospitals and essential partners for coordination of assigned initiatives and priorities.
• Engage stakeholders to understand perspectives from patients, families, clinicians, senior leaders, and the community to formulate collaborative priorities addressing patient safety initiatives.
• Work with the member hospitals and engaged stakeholders to develop an ongoing narrative that allows the Association to curate the stories about the work, achievements, and the challenges they face while doing so.
• Collaborate with external organizations, city-wide stakeholders, and members to drive collective response to achieve the goals of DCHA lead collaboratives and grants.

Liderazgo

• Develop project plans ensuring identification of stakeholders, executive sponsors, and alignment with the goals and priorities of the organization.
• Partner with DCHA colleagues leading advocacy/public policy and community engagement activities to accomplish goals, and act as a resource for advocacy when regulatory or legislative activities in maternal and child health areas arise.
• Partner with DCHA colleagues leading marketing and communications to accomplish goals and activities that require marketing and communications expertise and/or design and branding elements.
• Provide the mentorship, training, and technical assistance needed to support continuous advancement in performance improvement initiatives.
• Supervision and coordination of the people and resources to execute the activities of assigned projects using a variety of change management and team facilitation methods.
• Identification, development, and monitoring of grant opportunities including applications, budgets, and contracts in collaboration with colleagues to ensure appropriate pursuit and management of grants in support of collaborative activities.

QUALIFICATIONS

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

Education & Experience   

• Master’s Degree in Public Health, Public Administration, Health Care Quality, or related field preferred. A minimum of four years of experience in health care and Bachelor’s degree in a related field.
• Certified Health Care Quality Professional preferred but not required.
• Experience as an improvement team or collaborative committee leader and facilitator.
• Experience working with and engaging community stakeholders
• Experience working with and engaging in legislative and regulatory support.

Skills & Abilities

• Understanding of health care quality improvement methodology.
• Strong skills in collaboration and facilitation.
• Strong leadership and motivation skills.
• Ability to lead large and small meetings.
• Excellent communication skills (listening, writing, and speaking).
• Understanding of quality-based payment programs, population health, and analytics techniques.
• Understanding of health system operations.
• Skills in establishing and maintaining relationships with clinicians and executives.
• Understanding of basic analytics and data visualization techniques and interpretation.
• Understanding of tactics to engage community stakeholders.
• Understanding of engaging agencies and legislative stakeholders to address constituent needs.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite including Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint required. Proficiency with email.
• Basic knowledge of software systems that support quality and patient safety initiatives and basic analytics.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS AND WORK ENVIRONMENT

This position is in the Washington, DC office and is primarily sedentary in nature with the ability to lift up to 20-30 pounds on occasion. The physical demands and work environment described below represent the activities and surroundings of the positions. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The position requires incumbent has an adequate off-site office environment for remote work. This position is hybrid (in-office/telework) and is required to report to the office a minimum of at least 50% a pay period with in-person presence above that as the position requires certain weeks. The physical demands and work environment described below represent the activities and surroundings of the positions. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

The work is typically performed in an office environment, with a moderate noise level. The position requires working in an office environment with the usual office equipment, including copiers, and computers.  The employee is frequently required to talk and hear on the telephone and in person with individuals and groups.  The incumbent is required to read and respond to documents in hard copy and electronic form. The position requires occasional travel to member facilities and meetings requiring transportation.

Salary Range

• $105,000 – $135,000

Funding Source

• This position is grant funded.